Tool for applying and removing fasteners



April 7, 1970 c. A. MAIRE ET AL TOOL FOR APPLYING AND REMOVING FASTENERS2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 9, 1967 April 7, 1970 c. A. MAIRE ET AL ,50

TOOL FOR APPLYING AND REMOVING FASTENERS Filed June 9, 1967 2Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent 67, 6 Int. Cl. B23p 19/00 US. Cl.29-200 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A tool for applying andremoving fasteners, comprising an open ended tube having an interiorpolygonal section for receiving a correspondingly shaped portion of thefastener, and a ring aligned with the tube and having an interiorpolygonal section identical with that of the tube. The ring is rotatablebetween a position in which its polygonal section is coincident withthat of the tube to permit the polygonal portion of the fastener to beintro duced into and extracted from the tube and a position in Which itspolygonal section is angularly olfset with respect to that of the tubeto maintain the polygonal portion of the fastener in the tube once ithas been introduced.

This invention relates to tools for applying and removing fasteners, inparticular, but not exclusively, provisional fasteners for provisionallyassembling and gripping superimposed sheets, for example of metal,before the final rivetting of these sheets.

These tools retain, and hold stationary or drive in rotation a portionhaving a polygonal cross-section of the fastener, and comprise, for thispurpose, a tube of interior polygonal cross-section corresponding tothat of the said portion of the fastener for engaging and cooperatingwith said portion. Typically these tools are power tools and are drivenby a pneumatic or electric motor or the like.

The invention has for its object, in particular, to render these toolssuch that they respond better than in the past to the various practicalconsiderations, notably concerning their radial encumbrance and/or theposibility of being able to disengage them by a simple withdrawal in theaxial direction of the fastener which they are to retain axially duringoperation, at least during the extraction of the fastener from thesheets.

The invention consists essentially in providing a tool of the type inquestion with a ring of interior section coaxial and identical with thatof the tube, this ring being axially fixed at the end of the tube thusforming an extension of the latter, but being adapted to eifect, withrespect to this tube, a co-axial rotation which permits, at will, eitherto make its polygonal section coincide with that of the tube for theintroduction of the polygonal portion of the fastener into the said tubeor for its extraction out of the said tube, or to angularly offset thepolygonal sec tion of the ring with respect to that of the tube, behindthe said polygonal portion of the fastener housed in the tube, in orderto retain, by means of the said ring, the said polygonal portion of thefastener in the said tube of the tool.

The invention comprises, apart from this principal feature, certainother features which are used preferably at the same time and which willbe more explicitly described hereafter.

The invention can be easily understood with the aid of the followingdescription and the accompanying drawings, which description anddrawings are, of course, merely given by way of example.

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FIGURE 1 of these drawings shows partially in elevation and partially inaxial section, part of a tool according to the invention for maintainingand for manoeuvring by a rotary motor a fastener for provisionallyassembling and gripping superimposed sheets, this tool being shown inthe position for introducing or for extracting the fastener.

FIGURE 2 is an end view of the tool of FIGURE 1, after the removal ofthe fastener.

FIGURE 3 shows, in a view similar to that of FIG. 1, the tool in adifferent position, in which it retains the fastener axially, ready formanoeuvring either in the direction of tightening or in the direction ofloosening.

FIGURE 4 is an end view, corresponding to that of FIG. 2 of the tool ofFIG. 3.

PIIGURE 5 is a side view, partly cut away, of the entire too The toolshown in the drawings is a preferred embodiment of the invention and isparticularly adapted for applying and removing provisional fasteners forprovisionally assembling and gripping superimposed sheets, for examplesheet metal, before the final rivetting of these sheets.

Concerning first of all the fastener, it can comprise, as is known initself, a body 2 in the form of a bolthead, for example hexagonal, and aspindle axially slidable through this body 2, the spindle projecting outof the body 2 on one side in the form of a threaded rod 3 on which isengaged a nut 4, and projecting out of the other side in the form of asmooth flattened rod 5. The rod 5 is completed along one side and nearthe body 2 by a complementary pin 6, rigid with the body 2, whereby therod 5 and pin 6 together form a cylindrical portion; and the rod 5 isfurther completed, along its other side and near its end, by acylindrical rod 7 attached to the rod 5 and of the same diameter as thatresulting from the combination of the flattened rod 5 with the pin 6 butradially offset with respect to this latter.

The fastener can furthermore be completed by a washer 8 surrounding thethreaded rod 3 between the body 2 and the nut 4, and by a disc 9 forminga guide and formin ga stop fixed to the free end of the rod 3.

By making the threaded rod 3 slide axially in the body 2, in which itsnon-circular part 5 prevents it from turning, the cylindrical end 7 canbe advanced beyond the fixed pin 6 (to a position not shown) whichpermits the spindle 7, 5, 3 to be introduced into a hole formed in twosuperimposed sheets, the diameter of this hole corresponding to thediameter of the end 7 and to the diameter of the combination of theparts 5 and 6. As this spindle penetrates further, its end 7, then acertain length of its flattened part 5 alone, and finally thecomplementary parts 5 and 6, pass through the sheets, thesecomplementary parts 5 and 6 completely filling the opening of the saidhole.

By then screwing the nut 4 with respect to the body 2 on the threadedrod 3, this latter is caused to slide through the body 2 from left toright.

During this movement, the sheets, which are located between the body 2and the end 7 of the spindle are finally gripped by the base 10 of thebody 2 and the heel 11 that the end part 7 of the spindle forms at itsbeginning on the intermediate flattened part 5.

A fastener of this type can be maneuvered, either by hand, by holdingits body 2 stationary with a wrench, and by turning the nut 4 withanother wrench, or much more rapidly, with the aid of a power tool suchas that showing in the drawings having a pneumatic or electric motor Mor the like equipped with a tube 12, fixed to the casing 1 of the motorand whose end has a hexagonal section adapted to engage the hexagonalbody 2 of the fastener and, at the interior of the tube 12 a second tube13 coaxial and driven by the shaft of the motor M, said second tube 13having at its end a hexagonal section adapted to engage the nut 4.

It can be seen that, by the rotation of the tube 13, which is driven bythe shaft of the motor M by the intermediary of a torque limiter (notshown) one can, according to the direction of rotation of the tube 13,which can be chosen by a reverser 21, either make the spindle 3, 5, 7withdraw in the body 2 from the left towards the right, or make itadvance in the body 2 from the right towards the left.

The tool shown in FIGURE 5 is driven by a pneumatic motor M fed withcompressed air which enters by the tube 23. The tool is provided with apistol-grip handle 24 fixed to the casing 1 of the motor M, and atrigger 22 is provided for actuating the motor. As mentioned previously,the direction of rotation of the motor M is controlled by the reverser21.

When it is desired to withdraw a fastener after having rivetted thesheets together by the previous holes, the fastener is often wedged by ashearing effect between the two sheets, so that it is convenient toprovide, on the tool, means for assuring the axial retention of thefastener by its body 2 in the tool, so as to be able, after havingunscrewed the fastener by the return of the spindle 3, 5, 7 from rightto left in the body 2, to pull the fastener by means of the casing 1 ofthe motor M which, generally, is equipped with a pistol-grip handle.

To this end, and according to the invention, the tool comprises a ring14 forming an extension of the tube 12, the ring 14 having an interiorhexagonal section identical and co-axial with that of the end of thetube 12, and being fixed axially with respect with the said tube 12, butadapted to effect, with respect to the said tube 12, a coaxial rotationwhich permits, at will, either to make its polygonal section coincidewith that of the tube (see FIGURES 1 and 2) for the introduction of thehexagonal body 2 in the end of the tube 12 or for its extraction fromthe latter, or to angularly offset the polygonal sectional of the ring14 with respect to that of the tube 12, below its hexagonal body 2, inorder to retain, by this ring 14, the fastener in the said tube 12, asshown in FIGURES 3 and 4.

The ring 14 is advantageously rigid with the end of a sleeve 15,co'axially mounted on the tube 12 and which is maintained on this tubeby guiding means immobilizing it on the tube in the axial direction, butpermitting it to effect, with respect to the tube, a partial rotation,preferably limited between two stops, one stopping the sleeve 15 andtube 12 in their position shown in FIGURES 1 and 2, and the other intheir position shown in FIGURES 3 and 4.

To this end, there is advantageously provided, at the bottom of aperipheral groove 16 formed in the exterior face of the sleeve 15, atleast one hole 17 which passes through the wall of the sleeve 15 and, inthis hole, a cylindrical stud 18 which a spring 19, in the form of aslit ring. which holds the sleeve 15 in the said groove 16, maintainsengaged in projection in a corresponding groove 20 formed in theexterior face along the periphery of the tube 12.

The groove 20 extends along the periphery of the tube 12, preferablyalong one of the halves of an are having as its chord one of the sidesof the hexagon of the interior section of the tube 12, so that thepartial rotation which the sleeve 15 can effect on the tube 12 by thedisplace-- ment of the stud 18 from one end to the other of the groove20, corresponds to an angular shifting of the identical hexagonalprofiles of the end of the tube 12 and of tye ring 14, between theposition in which these profiles coincide (position shown in FIGURES 1and 2) and a position of maximum offset shown in FIGURES 3 and 4.

The tool, according to the invention, operates in the following manner.

First the sleeve 15 is turned on the tube 12 to its extreme position,shown in FIGURES 1 and 2, which permits the hexagonal body 2 of thefastener to be introduced, through the ring 14, into the end of the tube12, by making it pass through the opening of the ring 14.

At the same time, the nut 4 penetrates into the correspondingly shapedend of the tube 13. The spindle 3, 5, 7 of the fastener is then locatedengaged to the maximum towards the left in the body 2 of the fastener ina position not shown in which the disc 9 is in the immediate vicinity ofthe nut 4.

It is then sufficient to turn the sleeve 15 from the stop position shownin FIGURES 1 and 2 to the stop position shown in FIGURES 3 and 4, sothat the sides of the hexagon of the ring 4 overlap the corners of thehexagon formed -by the body 2, thus retaining the body 2 inside the tube12.

By turning on the motor M, by means of the trigger 22, the tube 13 turnswith respect to the tube 12. The nut 4 makes the rod 3 advance from leftto right. In the course of this displacement, the threaded rod 3penetrates axially into the tube 13. Its end is maintained and guidedalong the axis of the tube 13 by the stop disc 9 Whose diametercorresponds appreciably to that of the tube 13.

At the end of its travel, and after having stopped the motor, it issufficient to return, by a partial rotation in the opposite direction,the sleeve 15 and the ring 14 from the position shown in FIGURES 3 and 4to the position shown in FIGURES 1 and 2, in order to be able todisengage the tool from the body 2 of the fastener.

When it is wished to remove the fastener from the sheets which it hasserved to assemble provisionally, it is sufficient to attach again, ashas been described above, the tool to the fastener, to drive the motorin the opposite direction, and finally, to extract the fastener from thesheets by pulling the tool, by means of its casing 1 or its piston-griphandle, which permits a considerable force of extraction to be exertedon the fastener.

Then, the fastener can be removed from the tool in the way alreadyexplained above.

It can be seen that the tool, according to the invention, onlyencroaches very little on the surroundings of the body of the fastener,and can be coupled to the latter or uncoupled from it by a simplemovement of rotation, which permits maneuvering in very limited spaceand, for example, permits the fasteners to be placed very closetogether.

Needless to say, as will in any case be obvious from the foregoing, theinvention is not limited to the embodiment which has been specificallydescribed above; on the contrary, the invention includes variousmodifications.

What we claim is:

1. In a tool for applying and removing fasteners having a portion ofpolygonal section, for provisionally assembling and grippingsuperimposed sheets, for example sheet metal, before the final rivettingof these sheets,

(A) a tube having an open end and having, at least in the vicinity ofsaid open end, an interior polygonal section corresponding to thepolygonal section of said fastener portion for surrounding and engagingsaid fastener portion,

(B) a ring aligned with said tube at said open end and having aninterior polygonal section identical to that of said tube, said ringbeing axially fixed with respect to said tube, but adapted to be rotatedwith respect to the tube about the axis of the tube from a firstposition to a second position and vice-versa,

(C) said first position being a position in which the interior polygonalsection of said ring is coincident with that of said tube for theintroduction of said fastener portion into, and the extraction of saidfastener portion out of, said tube,

(D) and said second position being a position in which the interiorpolygonal section of said ring is angularly offset with respect to thatof said tube for maintaining said fastener portion in said tube afterthe introduction of said fastener portion into said tube.

2. A tool according to claim 1 having, in addition to said portion ofpolygonal section, a threaded spindle extending axially through, andaxially shiftable with respect to, said portion, and a nut screwed onsaid threaded spindle for axially shifting said thread spindle, saidtool comprising:

(A) a handle rigid with said tube,

(B) a tubular shaft mounted inside said tube and adapted to engage saidnut,

(C) a motor for driving said tubular shaft in rotation with respect tosaid tube, thereby driving said nut and axially shifting said threadedspindle,

(D) and means for reversing the direction of rotation of said tubularshaft thereby reversing the direction of shifting of said threadedspindle.

3. A tool according to claim 2 in which the polygonal sections of saidfastener portion, of said tube and of said ring are in the form of aregular polygon, and in which stop means are provided for limiting theangle of rotation of said ring with respect to said tube to one half ofthe angle subtended by one side of the regular polygon at the centre ofsaid regular polygon.

4. A tool according to claim 3 comprising:

(A) a sleeve rigidly connected to said ring, said sleeve rotatablysurrounding said tube and being provided with a peripheral groove havinga hole passing radially through said sleeve,

(B) a corresponding peripheral groove formed on said tube,

(C) a stud positioned in said hole and held therein by a spring in theform of a split ring mounted in said peripheral gorge of said sleeve,said stud projecting into, and being able to move in, said correspondingperipheral groove of said tube,

(D) said corresponding peripheral groove being of such a length to limitsaid stud, when travelling from one end to the other end of saidcorresponding peripheral groove, to one of the halves of an are havingas its chord one of the sides of said regular polygon.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,405,779 8/ 1946 Davis 29243.532,417,681 3/1947 Frank 29243.53 X 2,468,286 4/ 1949 Behlert. 2,608,9009/ 1952 Kunz.

THOMAS H. EAGER, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 72391

